On the 730 report last night CounterAct and Friends of the Earth were singled out by the right wing warriors of the Liberal party.
With an enquiry being opened into the tax deductible status of environment groups, this is just another attack on the effective work of our grassroots organisations.
We have been informed George Christensen, all round charmer, and climate denier provided documentation to the 730 report, outlining his attacks on us, our work educating people about their rights and how to participate in nonviolent action… as well as various grudges against Friends of the Earth and their financial arrangements with affiliates like ours, and auspicing other grassroots groups – all of which is above the law.
Despite a comprehensive review in 2012, a subsequent enquiry in 2014 … in all of which FOE have been completely cleared of any wrong doing, the attacks persist.
And we are first off the rank. But don’t worry – they are coming for the rest of the environment movement as well – In what should be of huge concern to all of civil society across the country, Nationals Senator, Matthew Canavan cited 100-150 organisations that participate in, GASP, SHOCK, HORROR – political advocacy and challenges to unsustainable industry (you know, those people that um…how do we say this… oh yeah…DAMAGE the environment) and are on their hit list.
And make no mistake, this is a hit list, and it is a coordinated attack. This one attack alone had three LNP cheerleaders – Andrew Nikulic, Alex Hawke and Matthew Canavan, as well as George Christensen feeding information in the background.
Unfortunately, as we are all well aware by now – with the government failing to act, civil society is all that is left to protect our environment. And when all traditional methods fail, that is why we are seeing everyday folk turning to civil disobedience and other creative tactics to intervene in damaging industries that are destroying our natural environment.
So – what to do?
Stand with us. And pitch in to support our work and CounterAct the government attacks (especially while it is still tax deductible! And clearly effective if they are this concerned about us)
To give a bit of context… as an affiliate of Friends of the Earth, CounterAct received a grand total of $15 000 in tax deductible donations in 2013-14. This is about the same amount of money that George Christensen spent in six months on office supplies and a mighty fine collection of climate denialist literature… with your tax payer dollars.
What is more frightening? CounterAct teaching nonviolence and campaigning skills to ordinary community members across the country, or an elected representative that doesn’t have a basic grasp of science or reality?
We would welcome the same level of scrutiny being shown regarding the billions of dollars spent on fossil fuel subsidies every year… or the millions donated to the Institute of Public Affairs and their wishlist to dismantle everything decent in this society…but perhaps that’s for another post. Stay tuned for more on the #IPAAgenda
In the meantime, find out more here, and tweet and post your support picture as a #FriendOfFoe – it has been very heartening to us all to see the support from different quarters…keep it coming!